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Press - 2005
MIT coach says unique technique in `Ice Princess' does add up
Landing a double axel in figure skating is as simple as Sir Isaac Newton's
law of gravity - at least according to Disney's ``Ice Princess,'' in theaters
tomorrow
Michelle Trachtenberg (``Buffy the Vampire Slayer'') stars as physics whiz Casey
Carlyle who uses scientific theories to discover her untapped talent on the ice.
But can figures on paper really give an athlete the cutting edge?
``Yes, it is possible,'' said Noah Riskin, men's gymnastics coach at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. ``This linkage is very important - the
linkage from paper to work. It can be an `a-ha' moment, but the body's thinking
is different from rational thinking. If you can translate realms and that's the
thinking base, you can apply it.''
In the film, Casey must create an original, personal physics experiment as part
of a scholarship application for Harvard. She chooses to analyze her passion -
figure skating.
She studies skaters' movements and then calculates a formula to help perfect
their jumps. Casey applies the theories to her own skating and literally
elevates her abilities.
Her use of physics isn't far off from what Riskin is hoping to accomplish at
MIT.
``The intellectual side can really augment or support (athletic performance),''
he said.
Riskin has proposed that MIT pair physical education with class work to help
students gain insight into their science studies.
He is testing his theories in a physics class he co-teaches at MIT.
``When I coach the gymnastics team, I'm not tossing out equations. I'm working
with students often to translate. They'll say `You mean like this and that from
a physics equation?' It does seem to help them. It's a slow seepage from their
intellect down into the body,'' he said.
``Nothing substitutes for the direct experience.''
Riskin, who was a gymnast for 20 years, said Russian teams from the 1980s used
science to perfect their moves. He remembers seeing kids wearing rudimentary
devices that carried them perfectly through movements.
``The coach (then) told me, `In two years, we cut the ropes.' What the
conversation was about was how the body learns and adapts and thinks,'' Riskin
said. ``It doesn't matter how many equations and written things are given, the
body learns by feel.''
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